Aidan O’Shea has time for fans. Sue him.
When you’re Mayo and you’re so close to the top, every little thing you do gets micro-analysed. Your shooting prowess. Your league form or how early you peak. Your use of a sweeper. Your holidays. Your tweets. Your taking time out for supporters.
Only inches separate the westerners from the holy grail so all of us in the media are guilty of looking to find those inches in the most ridiculous of places – as long as it’s something new and unheard of, of course. The reality of it all is that Mayo should’ve beaten Dublin in the All-Ireland final in 2016 but freak luck in the form of two own goals stopped them. That’s it.
The rest of it is all just a sideshow and, if anything, the rest of it is just a little touch of class.
Look at the faces of the kids getting a picture with their hero.
Imagine the backlash if a man like O’Shea refused a photo opportunity like that so he could stand in a huddle or complete his warm down.
- The GAA has lost its soul.
- The game has gone far too professional.
- These players have notions now.
That sort of stuff. Stuff to say that regular guys in regular jobs are out of touch with the common people and the grass roots. If men like Aidan O’Shea don’t stop to make these fans’ days, they’d be much worse and they’d be vilified even more so.
Leitrim star Emlyn Mulligan made the trip to Castlebar for Sunday’s Connacht clash between Mayo and Sligo and, despite his own personal frustration having suffered a third cruciate injury just before the championship, he was able to stand up for a fellow inter-county peer by making light of the criticism that Aidan O’Shea has received.
Asked Aidan O Shea for a selfie. Having none of it #justiceforaidan #gaa pic.twitter.com/Sy3G7bupQ6
— Emlyn Mulligan (@emlynmulligan) May 21, 2017
Unless he wasn’t joking and he genuinely got turned down for a selfie.
In that case, the GAA really has lost its soul…
